crowded places
by Make A Shadow
Summary: "Oh, one more thing." Luke gets to his feet and starts toward the break room. "You let her leave without paying. Lexi's going to crucify you when she sees you rented The Bodyguard."


**Author's Note:** there are about three things i know a lot about: the plight of an army brat, movies on vhs, and roller skating rinks. and big thanks to kingcobrakai1972 for helping me...balance. you'll see what i mean. oh, and all the films mentioned are twenty years old or older, so if you get spoiled...sorry not sorry.

this takes place in 1999. title comes from the song by banks. cheers!

* * *

_crowded places__  
_i.

It's like clockwork. Every Friday night, she's in here perusing the stacks. Sometimes she settles on a decades old romantic comedy. Other times she takes a chance and picks up an action packed new release that got favorable reviews. She's even boldly selected family-friendly animated flicks on the rare occasion.

It always comes down to whether or not the movie has a happy ending. She never gambles on that. She made that mistake when she rented _Bridges of Madison County. _

Tonight she picks a safe choice: _The Bodyguard_.

"Not to be that guy, but this makes the fifth time you've rented that."

Digging into her wallet, she pauses. As achingly slow as she can possibly manage, she raises her gaze to meet his. Without fail, the sight of her emerald eyes contrasted with her sienna complexion causes his stomach to quiver. They then fall back to the plastic container on the counter between them like she's rethinking her choice. She speaks. "We move around too much. Buying it is not worth the hassle."

Kai knows very little about her, but that validates one assumption he has. She's new to town. Other observations? She's young, still in high school like his siblings. If she's spending her Friday nights in the local video store, then she probably doesn't have any friends. Or doesn't want any. And she loves a happily ever after.

"So, is having a happy ending a prerequisite?"

She hands him her card, to which he applies a fourth hole punch. _Fifth punch gets a free rental. _"Why waste two hours if you're not going to enjoy it?" The girl gives him a tight lipped smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

He cocks his eyebrow up at the seemingly innocuous statement but let's the comment lie. "How are you, uh, liking Mystic Falls?"

"What's to like? This place isn't even big enough to have a Blockbuster."

"True, we have half the selection but twice the charm." He winks. She blinks and holds her hand out for her loyalty card, which is only a strip of white cardstock with three, now four holes, her phone number, and part of her name printed on it. "B. Bennett. Do I get to know what the B stands for?"

"I'm seventeen," she deadpans. That takes the wind out of his sails, which is her intent.

Handing her the card and pushing the VHS case towards her, he blows out a gust of air. "Well, B… We thank you for your loyalty. And don't forget to rewind."

Nonplussed, she grabs the movie, walks through the security detectors, and then she's off into the night. In a folding chair behind the counter, his younger brother chuckles. Kai turns as Luke flips the page of his comic book. "What?"

"Man, come on. You seriously don't know who that is?"

"Is it even worth humoring you at my own expense? She's too young."

"Oh, I know she is. She's in Liv's Physics class."

He waits a beat before sighing. "Fine, who is she?"

The blonde Parker sets his comic down on the locked case holding the few NC-17 films they carry and grins up at Kai. "She's the girl whose dad bought the Gilbert house."

"No shit."

There was a lot of town gossip about that. Last summer, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert's car drove off the Wickery Bridge with their sixteen year old daughter Elena in the backseat. All three of them drowned. The surviving members of the family, their teenage son Jeremy and Miranda's sister Jenna Sommers, moved out of town shortly after. The house was left vacant out of respect...until one day a few months ago a moving truck parked outside.

"_That's her_?" He grimaces and tugs at the collar of the plaid button down he wears over his work polo. "No wonder she's in here alone every Friday night."

"Technically, so are you."

"Yeah, well, Dad owns the place."

"It's not like you don't have any friends either."

Kai mimics his brother in a mocking tone before he goes back to his original task of scanning in returned videos.

"Oh, one more thing." Luke gets to his feet and starts toward the break room. "You let her leave without paying. Lexi's going to crucify you when she sees you rented _The Bodyguard._"

He whips around but the girl is probably halfway down the block by now. "Shit_._"

ii.

"Hey."

Kai looks away from the computer. His eyebrows shoot up. It's Monday afternoon and he doesn't expect to see her so soon. Normally she drops her rentals in the return box set into the glass front of the building. The words tumble out before he has the chance to dress them up. "You owe me."

The corner of her mouth quirks up. "I know. Sorry 'bout that. I was...in a mood the other day."

"I have half a mind to call the sheriff."

"Please don't. I already get read the riot act from her spawn." Her eyes cut away and lips thin. "Anyway, I brought back the movie. And what I owe you."

"I have to charge you interest. Store policy."

"I've only got, like, ten bucks."

"Not that kind of interest."

With palms firmly pressed to the counter, he hops over and trolls the aisles in search of the right movie. They weave through Kids and Horror, pass Romance and Documentary before stopping in the middle of Martial Arts. His hand shoots out for his all time favorite film and he turns back to her. He's mildly surprised she followed him but is not surprised to see the suspicion in her eyes.

"Interest. _The Karate Kid_. As payback for stiffing me, you have to watch this."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Come on, you'll love it. It's well within your tastes."

She folds her arms over the tan cashmere sweater she paired with a denim mini skirt. "What do you know about my taste?"

"Hm. _Mighty Ducks, Sister Act, The Wedding Singer, Forrest Gump, Major Payne…_" he lists off each film on his fingers. "You love an underdog."

Her suspicion moves to the cover of the case where a likeness of Ralph Macchio stands in fighting stance wearing a gi, a black belt, and a white and red headband while Pat Morita looks on from the background. He shakes the case from side to side. "I know you want to," he taunts. "It even has a happy ending."

Glaring up at him, she scowls. "Fine."

She goes to take the video, but he pulls it out of her reach at the last second. "What's the B stand for?"

Her eyes narrow into a squint. "You mess with the _bull _, you get the horns," she quotes the popular John Hughes film. She even does the thing where she curls her fingers except for her pinky and index ones into a fist.

"Cute." And it is. Her nose crinkles with her mouth in a snarl. It's downright adorable. "You know I could just look you up in our store rolodex, but that'd be an abuse of power. I mean, it's got your telephone number and address in there, too."

"Don't be that creepy guy. Besides, everyone knows where I live." She hops and snatches the movie while he thinks of a retort. Flouncing back to the front of the store, she pops a wad of bubble gum in her mouth and gnashes obnoxiously while she waits for Kai to ring her up. She gives him the ten dollar bill she promised, which he stuffs into the tip jar instead of putting in the register.

"You're forgetting something." With a cheeky smile that tells him she's really enjoying busting his chops, she pinches her loyalty card between her fingers. Her nails have been scribbled on with black sharpie.

He takes it and punches a fifth hole. "You should be lucky I'm letting you off on a technicality, _B_."

"If that's what you wanna call this…" she sneers down at the new case in front of her.

He slides her card across the counter. "Congratulations. You've earned a free rental on your next visit," he says in a monotone voice with a severe lack of enthusiasm.

"You know, your customer service skills leave something to be desired."

"Here at Parker's Video House, the customer is not always right."

"I'm right about this." She grabs up her card and movie and strolls out without a second glance.

iii.

They continue like this.

She comes in on Fridays after school lets out, searches the stacks for a solid hour or so because _there are just so many options _before settling for something, and with her videos Kai slips in a film recommendation that he puts on his own rental account. He sorts his picks into categories so she knows what to expect...kind of.

i. Feel Good. _These are your comedies and musicals and sports movies that might even feature a lovable canine who _doesn't _die at the end. _

ii. Action/Thriller. _Typical car chases and explosions and murder mysteries with a spunky cyber-hacker who in actuality is probably the reason Y2K is going to send technology back into the stone age. Real popcorn flicks. _

iii. Sleep With the Lights On. _The best way to watch these is with the doors locked, lights off, and candles lit while you're home alone. That'll give you a nice ambiance. Afterwards, though, you might want to make sure you check the security system, like, five times. Maybe call your priest, too. _

iv. We Can't Be Friends Until You've Watched This. _Pretty self-explanatory. This is genre indiscriminate but they deserve at least one obligatory viewing. If you don't like it, don't tell me. What matters is that you watched it. _

v. You're Not Going To Like This. _This is your catch-all category. The not-so-happy endings and the ambiguous endings and the arthouse films where you can tell the director was on shrooms when they shot it. A few of these may have happy-ish endings, but not for the character you grow to like so no getting attached. Oh, and the dog most certainly dies in these. _

The thing about B is that she's not film illiterate nor is she all that picky about genres - with the exception of military movies. Chock it up to her nomadic lifestyle. She can't count on making relationships if they're short-term, but she can invest ninety minutes to three hours in feeling everything she deprives herself of in real life. She says, that way when the tears are all cried out, it doesn't impact her. Because it doesn't matter, it matters. That somehow means everything to her.

Because it turns out that she really liked _The Karate Kid_, he gladly accepted the challenge.

He suggests some off-the-wall films. The classics, the cult classics. _The Godfather _trilogy and _Four Weddings and a Funeral _and _Full Metal Jacket_, the last of which she admits to not being able to finish_. _When he asks had she ever watched _Friday, _she looks at him like he asked if she's ever breathed oxygen before. _I didn't want to assume _, he says. He then sends her off with _Set It Off, Boyz N the Hood, _and _How Stella Got Her Groove Back. _For the just slightly too weird for real mainstream success, he gives her _The Faculty, Clerks, The Crow, The Fifth Element, _and _Trainspotting. _

It quickly gets to the point where she's watching a new movie every night. She doesn't mind but she doesn't feel like that's fair. So she gives him her list. There are no in-depth categories or reasonings behind hers. She just likes reciprocity.

Her movies are so damn saccharine he could get cavities. Disney animated movies and _yeah, underdogs _and musicals, too. "That guy stuck his dick in a pie and you didn't warn me so, yes, you have to watch _Oliver & Company_. "

He cops to liking a fair few from her list that he hadn't seen yet. _Soul Food _and _Good Burger _and _Romy & Michele's High School Reunion. _Actually, there isn't a film on her list that he ends up hating. Even if they aren't releases he'd rush to see, he appreciates the arrangement they've got going on. Oftentimes, he spends his breaks and lunch hour in the back room watching whichever movie on the television/VCR combo. Luke finds it annoying, but Lexi is amused. As long as someone's paying for the rentals, their store manager couldn't care less.

The night of Mystic Falls High School's homecoming dance, B comes in wordlessly, straight up ignores Kai's usual teasing, rents _Romeo + Juliet _with Leonardo Dicaprio, and leaves. When she finally returns it days past its due date, he waives the late fees and convinces her to watch the _Titanic_. She's been putting it off but finally relents. He refuses to put it in one of his five categories, though.

That should've been her first warning.

When she comes in the very next day, she slams the video down and demands a full refund. "That is three hours of my life I will _never _get back."

"I thought you'd like it."

"You thought I'd root for the bitch who hogged that huge piece of wood and let Jack freeze to death? They could've at least taken turns or, I dunno, distribution of weight or something. And then, _and then _she has the gall to say _I'll never let go _before prying his frozen fingers off the board and letting him sink to the bottom of the ocean?"

She leans in close and lowers her voice. "You honestly thought I would like that?"

"I was wrong?" She glares. "Technically, I paid for that rental, so there's no refund to give _you._"

"Fine. I want a redo with a different movie. A better one, not another wack ass recommendation, Parker. And it has to have a happy ending."

Okay," he surrenders. He planned his next recommendation to be _Tombstone_, but even he's gutted by Doc Holliday's demise in that one. "You can pick any two," he holds up two fingers, "Jim Carrey movies that your jaded heart desires."

She chooses _The Mask _and _Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. _

The next week, once her fire has lessened to a simmering smolder, he goes back to teasing her. While she studies the back of a box because Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey are in it, the film score from _The Patriot _overhead cuts out and feedback fills the store. Other customers cry out at the unforgiving noise.

"Attention customers," Kai's velvety voice croons from the store intercom. "The next selection on Movie Ballad Fridays is the soaring voice of Ms. Celine Dion as she sings the theme song to the highest grossing movie of all time—_Titanic_. This one goes out to the young lady in aisle three who does not need to watch _A Time To Kill _under any circumstances."

Wearing a black baseball cap turned backwards, B peeks over the shelving at Kai whose arm and pointer finger are extended towards her like he's chastising her from afar. "I see you and I'm telling you to put it down."

The intercom switches off and then the beginning notes of "My Heart Will Go On" sound from the speakers above. She gives him the finger, which he "catches" as if it were a kiss blown his way and pantomimes tucking it into his shirt pocket. On his advice, she does not rent the John Grisham adaptation.

The week leading up to Halloween, he gives her scary movies _Scream _and _I Know What You Did Last Summer _and _Nightmare On Elm Street _with _The Exorcist,_ _Poltergeist, _and _Texas Chainsaw Massacre _if she's feeling really brave. She doesn't bat an eye. In exchange, he gets _Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Little Shop of Horrors, _and _Casper_—all campy movies he's seen before, but he watches them again anyway.

He doesn't get to see her in her Halloween costume, though. That is if she evens wear one.

iv.

The thing about B is she doesn't _need _a happy ending. What she wants is an ending that's earned. The end of the _The Lion King _is triumphant because Disney guts you with Mufasa's death. _Con Air _gets the audience to see there is indeed honor amongst thieves. Well, murderers. The tension in _Speed _has you on the edge of your seat because Annie and Jack are the only people who can save the day and a city bus should not be going that fast.

Case in point: B and Kai go on and on about the integrity of _Billy Madison _versus _Happy Gilmore. _They're both characters played by Adam Sandler but B argues Billy's happy ending isn't really earned the way Happy's is.

Luke and Lexi sit and watch their back and forth with rapt intrigue. No one argues films with Kai. No one has the patience for the long winded so-called cinephile. But this seventeen year old girl serves her claim and then spikes her rebuttal with cutting wit and understanding of the material which eventually leaves Kai sputtering with no choice but to concede.

"Hey, B, why don't you go to the movies as much as you come in here?" Luke wonders as he snacks on a bag of Twizzlers.

Lexi punches him in the shoulder, her fist holding a roll of nickels for the register. "Don't scare away our best customer," she hisses.

The young woman shrugs. Tonight's the last football game of the season, and instead of sitting in the crowded bleachers at the stadium she's cross legged on the carpet with the box for _Office Space _in her hands. Her black hair is a curtain between her and them. "By the time it's on video, I've decided if I even want to waste the time watching it."

"See, that's the difference between you and me, B," Kai interjects, stealing a licorice much to his brother's dismay. "You treat it like time wasted. If you like it then it's no skin off your nose. But really, it's a _privilege _to live in whatever universe for ninety to a hundred eighty minutes."

Luke and Lexi both roll their eyes at Kai waxing poetic about film watching. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, B only blinks up at him. "That's the only difference between us, Parker?"

The thing about Kai is he's a secret westerns buff, and B should have figured that out sooner. She's a big Denzel Washington and Will Smith fan. When he gets her to rent _The Bone Collector, Glory _even against her military movie ban, and _Much Ado About Nothing,_ she adds the newly released _Wild Wild West _to her pile. She notices his scowl as he scans the barcode. "You didn't like it?"

"As much as I liked Mary-Kate & Ashley's_ How the West Was Fun. _"

"Really? It has Will Smith, Salma Hayek, and this guy." She points to Kenneth Branaugh's name on the cover then she points to it on the cover for the Shakespeare adaptation. "He's in both of these."

"That's like comparing apples to kumquats, B."

"Well, maybe I like kumquats, Parker." His thick brows bounce but he doesn't argue with her, only mutters _watered down piece of garbage _under his breath. "What do you mean watered down?"

"It's a sad excuse of a remake, okay?" The blank stare on her face tells him all he needs to know. "You had no clue this is a remake of an actual quality western TV show?"

She shrugs. "Was I supposed to?"

"Hoo hoo… Just you wait."

When she returns to get her next batch, he loads her down with _True Grit, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, 3:10 To Yuma, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Blazing Saddles, The Magnificent Seven, _and _Tombstone: the Town Too Tough To Die. _

He holds the 1993 release of _Tombstone _with Kurt Russell next to his face. "If you're looking for a remake, this is one that improves on its original."

Her gaze tracks over the cover then meets Kai's bright grey eyes. Her arm is filled with the stack of cases and, from what she remembers of watching _Once Upon a Time in the West _with her father, westerns tend to be very long and sometimes bloated. She rolls her eyes. "You're lucky I don't have any plans for Thanksgiving break. It'll take me forever to watch all these."

His brows furrow in confusion. "No big family dinner?"

"I'd have to have a big family for that. My dad's not even going to be home. Some field exercise." She sniffs. "Whatever."

"Come to my house." When she makes a face, he rushes to clarify. "I've got a ton of younger brothers and sisters. Luke and Liv will be there. Even Lexi. I might hate my family, but it is my favorite holiday. Lots of food, football, and making fun of my aunt Fanny."

"The genocide of a people under the guise of friendship is your favorite thing to celebrate?"

"Okay, Wednesday Addams, point taken."

"I don't like crowds."

"Just...if you get bored or the whistling tune from _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly _starts to drive you up the walls, we'll save a place at the table for you."

Her dubious expression doesn't lift, but her eyes go back to the case he still holds in his hand. "I'll think on it."

v.

Thanksgiving comes and goes and B never showed for dinner. While his younger sisters fuss over which color ornaments to put on the Christmas tree, Kai wraps up a ceramic plate of leftovers and heads down the street. The Gilbert house is only a couple blocks from the video store and much of the town cleared out to do their Black Friday shopping in the next city over.

When she answers the door, she's got on baggy grey sweatpants with _ARMY _in black down one leg and a forest green sweater hanging off one shoulder. Her hair falls at her shoulders and there's a sneer etched on her face. "What do you want?"

"I brought food."

"I'm good, thanks."

"What'd you eat last night?"

She glances away, her attention going to the porch swing. Kai waits. "Spaghetti," she finally mutters.

"I love cold spaghetti as much as the next guy, but these make better much leftovers. The cranberry sauce is homemade and everything."

Instead of moving to take the plate, she folds her arms. "Why are you here?"

"It's just turkey, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Jesus, B. Take the plate." She does so grudgingly and Kai catches the familiar dialogue of one of his favorite movies. "You're watching _Tombstone_."

"Yeah, so?"

"Like it?"

"So far."

"Cool. Well, I hope you like the food. I cooked the turkey but my mom made the cranberry sauce. She's really proud of it." There's a shade of animosity in her eyes, and he takes that as his cue to leave. "Later, B."

Shoving his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, he turns away. He's halfway down the porch steps when she asks, "Do you want to watch it with me? I started it, like, ten minutes ago."

He stares up at her for a long time. The animosity is gone, but he's not sure he likes the emotion that's taken its place. The fact of the matter is she's a lonely girl in a big house all by herself and he can't be the person she wants or needs right now. "I don't think that's a good idea."

She scoffs. "I'm a black belt, so if you try anything I'll call your brother. That way there's an audience for when I kick your ass."

He moves back up the steps and stops in front of her. She stares up through her eyelashes and he looks down his nose at her. "I'll hold you to that."

The inside of the Gilbert house is...cavernous. B and her father don't have a lot of furniture to fill up the spacious front rooms. No paintings or pictures hang from the white walls. What looks to be a room for a home office is just storage for stacks of cardboard boxes. It doesn't even smell like a home, the air like stagnant dust and Pine-Sol. This is no place for two people, so it's no wonder Jenna and Jeremy skipped town. It hardly feels lived in. Probably haunted.

B disappears into what he assumes is the kitchen where he hears the whir of a microwave. He hesitates before pulling off his jacket, laying it over the arm of the couch, and sitting down at the far end closest to the front door. She returns with the nuked plate of food and two cans of Pepsi, one of which she tosses to Kai, before settling into the loveseat.

As she watches the movie, Kai watches her and he feels weird about it, but he can't seem to focus on the wild west. Slathering his mother's sauce over the turkey, she unabashedly _devours _the meal. She all but licks the plate clean before putting it aside and laying back, her legs tossed over the side of the small sofa.

She's a quiet movie watcher, absentmindedly kicking up one of her legs like an anxious tic. She doesn't ask questions or talk at the screen or seem to mix up characters even though there _are _a lot of white men in the cast, and honestly he was always curious how she'd be. He's a talker. A commentator, really, but he doesn't want to ruin her experience with his snark.

When the ending comes, she's understandably a little sniffly. Wiping her nose angrily, she chucks a throw pillow across the room at him. Because his arms stayed folded across his chest the whole movie, he gets hit in the face. "You didn't tell me he dies!"

"I mean, it is a category five."

She throws another pillow, which he deftly catches. "You said it was a four!"

"Four point five then!"

She swings her legs off the side of the couch and sits up straight. Leaning her elbows on her knees, she squints over at him. "That's the last movie you recommend to me, Malachai Parker."

"You loved it," he argues.

"Whatever." She looks away from him and swallows. "My dad will be home soon. You should, ya know, leave."

Nodding, he promptly stands to his feet and puts on his jacket. She picks up his plate and holds it out. "You don't want to maybe wash that?"

She makes a show of licking a slow line across the porcelain and smacking her lips then juts it back out to him. He crosses the room and takes it. Shaking his head, he mutters "disgusting". The comment is the first thing to cause something of a smile to grace her face all afternoon.

"See ya 'round, B."

The door swings open when she calls out again. When he turns, she's hurrying over before halting in front of him. The lack of distance between them stops his breath in his throat. There's an air of bravado on her face like she's going to say or do something very bold. The longer they stare at each other, the expression shrinks into an impassive mask. "Tell your mom I liked the cranberry sauce."

He nods and crosses the threshold. Before he can take another step, the door slams behind him and its lock engages.

vi.

Cases drop into the chute. The rattling sound distracts Kai from his scanning. Looking up, he sees B walking away, so he grabs a tape and rushes out of the store. "Hey…"

"I'm just dropping off my movies. Nothing to make a big deal out of it."

"I wasn't…" He makes sure he stays a safe distance from her. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable the other day."

She zips up her jacket like it's armor. "You didn't. I asked you to stay. Now that I think about it, I definitely should not have."

"Yeah, probably. Anyway, I wanted you to have this." He holds out a copy of _The Bodyguard_, one in its original sleeve. "It's not new or anything, but the tracking on it is the best of all the copies we have." All she does is silently stare at the rectangle in his hand, so he rambles on. "It's not a gift. It's a...gesture. Makes no sense to pay for your favorite movie every time you want to watch it."

"No, thanks. I can't accept that."

She steps back from him. Her sneaker almost trips over a crack in the sidewalk. Kai's hands reach out to right her as she stumbles, but she collects herself quickly.

"B, it can't be that much extra to pack. It's one movie."

"I don't want it!" She takes a few more steps backwards before turning and running away.

_Ten years later... _

As she laps the rink, the strobing lights glint off the silver glitter of her eyeshadow. Her white dress flutters about her thighs. Take the feathered wings away, she'd be Marilyn Monroe, but no. An angel is better. Fitting.

What are the fucking odds?

"Will you cover up? No one wants to see that shit."

Kai smirks at his brother from where he leans his arms on the rail behind him. The red Hawaiian shirt he picked up at a thrift store is shrugged on his shoulders. He left it haphazardly buttoned for accuracy. Luke's wearing far less that he is.

"I'm your wingman, remember? Think of me as a siren call."

"You're competition."

"Hardly."

"They don't know that." Luke juts his chin toward a pair of guys who keep looking at the Parker brothers. Amused, Kai raises a brow and waves his fingers at the men.

"Chill, alright? I'll take a lap while you _take a lap." _He then wags his eyebrows at the blond. He pushes himself off the railing and lightly pats his brother's cheek. Luke, in full Spartan attire, slaps his hand away. Laughing, he rolls across the carpet to the entrance of the rink.

The playlist is typical. Holiday appropriate songs like what plays right now: "Monster Mash". A passerby compliments her costume and, blushing, she does a single spin, brakes with the rubber stopper at the front of her skates to do a little curtsy, and then resumes skating with the counter-clockwise traffic.

The DJ announces backwards skate so everyone on the floor wheels around and starts in the opposite direction. "Monster Mash" bleeds into Marilyn Manson's rendition of "I Put a Spell On You" and the strobes match the ominous drum beat. He slows to a languid pace as he comes up on her left as she rides the line to the beginner's circle in the middle of the floor. Her eyes search the lobby just outside of the rink.

Matching her pace, he leans towards her. "Looking for someone?"

She glances his way, briefly taking in his Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants splattered with fake blood, and humorlessly smirks. "You're missing a button or two there, Tony Montana."

"Well, _Juliet_, your hemline is a little shorter than I remember."

"A guy complaining about a short dress? That's a first." She pushes off her left foot to increase her speed and Kai matches it.

"Oh, no complaints here. I just always pegged you for a stickler for details is all."

She grimaces at his use of the word _always_ and looks back at him, this time with a sharper eye. He flashes her a grin, which glows white under the ultraviolet lights, then winks. The recognition finally dawns on her face and, in her surprise, her ankle rolls as they take the curve. Losing her balance, she falls and lands on her right hip just inside the beginner's circle. She groans and rubs the spot that will likely bruise as Kai spins into the circle. He holds out his hand.

"Parker… How are you here?" Unable to disguise her amazement, she gapes.

"The short version? Netflix rentals. The long version? My dad's store went under, my grandmother got sick so we moved back here to Portland, and my brother was a plus one to his ex who you apparently work with but bailed tonight so I came with him instead."

Her shining gaze cuts away and she looks around the rink. They both spot Luke chatting with one of the staring guys from earlier, a man dressed in an astronaut jumpsuit. "I thought he looked familiar."

She looks back at the man crouching in front of her. Huffing, she stretches out both of her arms and he grasps her hands to pull her upright. She regains her equilibrium, but they don't drop hands. Try as he might, he can't beat back the wonder coursing through him. "I thought you didn't like crowds."

"I don't," she smirks. "I still don't."

He's the first to loosen his grip and her arms return to her sides. She dusts herself off and smooths out her dress. The music builds to a fever pitch making the skaters pick up speed. "You wanna...grab a drink?"

"If you're nice, I'll let you buy me a slushie." He clocks the phrase and couldn't stop the lopsided grin spreading across his face even if he wanted to.

When there's a lapse in the whirlwind of skaters, they cut across to the edge of the rink. It's hard to roller skate on carpet, but with his hand on the small of her back he helps her stay upright all the way to the concession area. There's a line and Luke and the guy he met are at the head, but Kai couldn't dream of cutting. This is the first he's felt lucky in years and he wants to savor this time with B. "Hey, how's your dad?"

Staring down at the galaxy carpeting, her wavy hair falls in her face. She rests her weight on her brake. "He, uh, died a couple of years after we left Mystic Falls."

"Oh. It wasn't from...was it?"

"No, no. We were living in the Mojave desert during _that_. It was…" She lifts her head to give him a wry smile that doesn't mask the sadness in her eyes. "A drunk driver. Just some kid."

"Jesus, B… I'm sorry."

"You know, no one's called me B in, like, ten years."

He clocks the subject change. She doesn't know yet, but his mom died the day after Christmas '99 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He never likes to talk about that, either. "Well, you never did tell me your first name."

"As if you didn't look it up."

He vehemently shakes his head. "Nope. I did, however, ask Luke...and he refused to tell me. But it wouldn't have been the same."

In truth, Kai only flipped through the rolodex after she and her father vacated the Gilbert house a week after Thanksgiving. Her address and phone number held no value, but the name _Bonnie_ _Bennett_ echoed in the back of his mind every blue moon for years afterward.

The line moves and they roll forward. "So, do I still call you Parker or have I leveled up to calling you Kai?"

His hand still hovering at the base of her spine, he tilts his head toward her. "If you play your cards right, you might even get to call me Malachai."

At that, she turns her head to meet his eyes and wrinkles her nose. "Was that you flirting with me?"

"Not if it was bad."

"No… I just always wondered what it would be like."

Before they can address the massive elephant in the rink, Luke makes a beeline towards them and engulfs B in a tight hug. While they used to joke together at the store, the two weren't close enough to stay in touch after she left. Still, she welcomes the embrace while Kai and "Neil Armstrong" stand by awkwardly.

"You know, if I liked you just a little bit less, I wouldn't have been so hurt by your vanishing act." They separate and gaze fondly at one another.

"Blame Uncle Sam. My dad wouldn't have bought that dumb house had he known his contract would get changed at the last minute."

"How is...he?" Kai shakes his head but Luke notices too late. Quickly offering his condolences, he reaches out and rubs her arm. The perfect subject change come in the form of Luke introducing Kai and B to his dark haired friend Noah. "Even for an adult office party, they don't serve beer. We're going to go find a bar that's not too crowded."

Shrugging, the two agree to tag along.

vii.

"You ever put your cinematic knowledge to good use?" She tongues the stirring straw of her whiskey sour.

"I work in public broadcasting, so kind of? I'm no Scorsese, but I like it well enough. What about you?"

"Environmental law."

His eyebrows jump at the out of left field career choice, but the B he remembered was pretty argumentative.

"As often as we moved around, the one thing that stayed the same was how bad pollution was getting. Littering, improper waste dumping, corporations taking advantage of low income populations…" She looks over and flushes, her cheeks heating up. "Sorry. I tend to ramble on about it."

"Don't be. You found the thing you're passionate about."

He holds up his own gin and tonic and clinks it against her glass. A broad smile breaks out on her face.

"I did take a film course my freshman year of college. _Introduction to Film & Media Studies. _I'm not sure I learned anything, though. All we watched was _The Matrix, A Trip To the Moon_, like, three times, and a bunch of avant garde short films."

"See," he elbows her in the ribs. "My recs weren't that bad, huh?"

"I mean, they weren't that great either. A lot of those films don't really hold up anymore. Have you watched _A Clockwork Orange _lately? I'm supposed to feel bad for that guy?"

"That's fair," he says with a breezy shrug. Downing the rest of his drink, he clears his throat and rotates on his stool to face her. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything."

"What happened the day after Thanksgiving?"

She blinks as if the inquiry surprises her, as if it hasn't been hovering over them since she fell in the skating rink. Turning her head, she looks at him, really looks at him, but Kai doesn't let it intimidate him. He was lean and a little gangly at twenty-two, but, while his life imploded a few times, a decade did his body good.

B turns back to her drink. "Nothing."

"I know nothing happened. But something happened."

She licks her lips. "My dad got his orders that Wednesday that we would be moving to Barstow. I was packing when you came to my house."

"You couldn't say bye?"

"I was a teenage girl who had a stupid crush on an older guy. Kai, I really liked you and when you came over…" She taps her nails against the perspiring glass. It's easier to admit her long buried secret if she doesn't meet his stormy eyes.

"I wouldn't have done anything."

"I know that. It's part of why I liked you so much. You weren't some skeeve who tried to take advantage of me."

She takes a calming gulp then turns to him. Their knees bump, but she doesn't shy away from the physical contact. "If you had stayed any longer, I would have done something that would've gotten us, gotten _you _in a lot of trouble."

His gaze drops to her full lips, which twitch at their corners. "Plus, you kind of pissed me off. Of all the places we were stationed and all the people I'd met, I ended up having a crush on _you_." She sucks her teeth and looks away. "It had to be you..."

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't be." She then knocks back the rest of her whiskey. "Just take me home."

Her wings lay by the front door where they rustled off their shoes. They leave the lights off to ward away trick-or-treaters. His fingers brush the silky, brown skin of her calf thrown over his lap. She steals a glance at him before her eyes flicker back to the screen. _Matilda _plays with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman as the world's worst parents in gaudy outfits that thankfully stayed in the 90s.

His hand tickles the sensitive part of her knee. She groans. "You said I could pick."

"Yeah, but I expected you to choose something like _My Bloody Valentine_, _Night Of the Living Dead, _or one of the _Final Destination _movies. Or _Saw. _"

"Seeing _Saw _the one time was enough for me."

He shifts his weight so one knee is bent on the couch. He braces himself on the arm she rests her back against while he hovers over her. "I wasn't really planning to watch…"

"Distracted while a film is playing? I'm pretty sure that's considered blasphemy in the Book of Parker."

"_Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged_." He leans forward and presses his mouth to hers. She reacts by parting her lips and he eagerly plunges in his tongue. Arching her back, she grabs fistsful of his hair and pulls him down.

When they breathlessly part, she scoffs. "You're an idiot." Then she pouts. "Then again...if your shirt were blue, you'd be my Romeo."

"Then it's a good thing we dodged that bullet, huh?"

Kai unbuttons his shirt then pauses the movie before returning his focus to the angel beneath him. Her candy eyes glide down his toned abdomen and her fingers soon follow. They track the hills and valleys of his muscles and the coarse hair trailing south before they rest at his waistband.

He dips down for a quick kiss before he works his way down her body. The girl who was all smirks and elbows filled out into a _woman_. The plumpness of her limbs and lips entice him to rediscover and discover her for the first time all at once. Tugging at the bodice of her dress, he takes one breast into her mouth and kneads the other over the fabric. His hand then roves between them, between her thighs where it reaches satin material. Moving the seat of her panties to the side, he tentatively rubs two fingers over her moist lips. She keens at his touch and gasps when his thumb ghosts over her bundle of nerves.

Her breast pops out of his mouth and he rubs his stubble over the raw skin. Crawling backwards of the couch, Kai gets onto the floor and kneels between her legs for better access. He helps her squirm out of her panties, the glow from the television screen lighting her up quite nicely. Digging his fingers into the flesh where her legs and hips meet, he hikes her legs over his shoulders and gives her one last devilish grin before diving in.

Tonguing her opening, his nose grazes her clit and she bucks upwards. That's all the encouragement he needs. He dips his tongue in deeper and rubs his face in it. She writhes, her hands searching for purchase in the couch cushions. One finally finds his hand, their fingers intertwining, while the other sinks into his hair. A string of profanity slips out, a _fuck _through gritted teeth here and a _shit _gasped out there. In the midst of her cursing, he hears his name _Kai _and it sounds divine wrapped in the husk of her voice.

Like maneuvering a stick shift, when she's almost at sensory overload she twists and pushes at his shoulder with her thigh for him to back off. When she wants more, she drives the heel of her foot against the ridges of his spine. He obliges her pacing as he gets harder by the second. Her body contorts and thighs slap against his ears. His grip tightens as he eases them back open.

When she finally comes, her thighs are wrapped around his head and ankles are locked behind his back. Tremors rack her body as he loosens her hold. She stares at the ceiling while trying to catch her breath when Kai moves into her line of sight. Immediately, she wraps her arms around him and crushes her lips to his. She tastes herself on his tongue which gets her engines going again.

"Nice to know your mouth is good for something." There's a loud bang downstairs and they jolt against each other. "Are trick-or-treaters breaking into your basement?"

"No, that's just Luke and 'Buzz Aldrin'." He hangs his head and presses a soft peck to the side of her neck. "There are things I wish I didn't know about my brother, but he's into foodplay and we share the kitchen."

She gets his meaning and sits up towards him. "Do you want me to go?"

His response is to glare at her like she's crazy. "No way I'm making it easy for you to leave again, Bonnie."

Reprimanded, her eyes drift to her lap. "Then you should probably show me to your bedroom."

* * *

**Author's Note:** *youtuber guru voice* hey guys, so if you liked this fic, don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe! ...in all seriousness, it would mean so much if you left a review. even if you want to tell me if i mentioned movies you like or if you disagree with something bonnie or kai said about a movie. something? por favor :)


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